Platen-press.



J. THOMSON.

PLATEN PRESS.

APPLIOATION FILED APB. 30.1908.

Patented Mar. 9, 1909,

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- J. THOMSON.

PLATEN PRESS. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP 8.

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TINTTE STTEO PATENT OTTO.

JOHN THOMSON,

JERSEY OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO JOHN THOMSON PRESS COMPANY, OF CITY, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PLATEN-PBESS.

Application filed. April 30, 1908.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN THOMSON, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the borough of Manhattan, of the city of New York, in thecounty and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Platen-Presses, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part hereof.

The invention relates to improvements in the construction of platenpresses such. as are shown and described in certain of my prior LettersPatent of the United States, to be referred to hereinafter, and moreparticularly to improvements in the parts of such presses immediatelyassociated with the platen.

The object of the invention is to provide in these presses someadditional features which are of considerable practical importance inthe operation thereof and also to simplify the construction andassembling of the platen and its associated parts with a view towardreducing the difficulties and cost of manufacture.

The improvements may be embodied in stamping, die and other platenpresses, but will find most general application in printing presses; andaccordingly, for the purpose of illustrating and describing the saidimprovements, I have shown in the drawings such a portion of a printingpress embodying the same as will enable me to explain the inventionfully.

In said drawings :-Eigure 1 is a'view in side elevation of the platenand its adjacent parts broken away from the rest of the press. F'g. 2 isa front elevation of the same, with some of the parts shown in section.

In the type of press to which I have particular reference, I employ apair of rockers 50 through which the platen rolls on seats or shelves 51formed in the frame, and a cam plate and stud 52 and 53 which guide theplaten as it moves to and from the bed This is all particularlyexplained, for instance, in my Letters Patent No. 331,846 dated December8, 1885. It is obviously desirable, in such cases as the present wherethe platen and its adjacent parts are relatively heavy bodies, to formall of these parts in one integral piece; as otherwise, under thecontinuous and considerable strains to which they are subjected, it isdifficult to keep the cam plate or plates, the rockers and theSpecification 01' Letters Patent.

l x l, l l

l l l l l l Patented March 9, 1909.

Serial No. 430,087.

platen rigidly united,-and this, of course, is of first importance.Moreover, on the other hand, if I attempt to form all of these partsfrom a single piece, I find that the casting thereof not only presentsgreat difficulties, but that the finishing,particularly the machining ofthe surfaces of the rockers which is done by a lathe and which onaccount of the shape of oscillation of the casting instead of the usualrotation,-involves large expense and special apparatus.

In accordance with my present improvements, I make the rockers 50 inpieces separate from the platen or the bridge of the platen and providemeans for accurately positioning the same with respect to the platen andfor securing the same rigidly thereto by keying; and I preferably employtwo of the guide cams 52 which are formed in plates cast integral withthe respective rocker pieces. In this way I find that I can overcome allof the difficulties mentioned above, for the casting and finishing maybe easily and conveniently done and the parts thereafter may be rigidlyand satisfactorily united. to the platen.

The integral pieces in which the rockers and cam plates are formed areshown clearly in the drawings to embody each a square shoulder 55, whichis very accurately out after the casting has been effected and whichfits into a correspondingly formed recess in the under-side of thebridge of the platen, and a flange 56 which abuts against the end of theplaten. The provision of the shoulders and flanges enables the twocastings to be readily assembled and absolutely accurately positioned atthe same time, one at one end of the platen and the other at the otherend of the platen; and when these castings are shoved in against theplaten from either side they are held thereto by some such means asscrews 57, and a key-way 58 is then drilled on each side between thecorresponding casting and the bridge of the platen and keys 59 drivenin, in order to secure the castings rigidly in position. Before thesecastings have been thus secured to the platen, they are of course formedwith the cam slots 60, and the rockers 50 are machined down accuratelyby milling, it being obvious that the formation of the shoulders and theslots 60 and the machining down of the rockers 50 can be done byperfectly simple operations and with the apparatus and tools of theaverage machine shop. 7

' The shape of the cam slots in the present case is the same and thefunction of the cam slots is the same, as is described and illustratedin Fig. 2 of my prior Letters Patent No. 427,448, dated May 6, 1 890,and to this patent reference may be had for a more particulardescription of the function of the cam as the platen advances to andrecedes from the bed. It suffices to point out here that the middleportion of each slot is curved so that the platen, as the stud 53traverses this portion of the slot, will roll upon the seats 51 withoutsliding (this portion of the slot obviously being cycloidal provided therockers are circular), and that the end portions of the slot are formedso as to effect a sliding of the platen for the evenly against the bedand also for the purpose of producing a relatively slow movement thereofduring its traverse of the feeding angle (as fully explained in theaforementioned Letters Patent). The lower portion 'of each slot, that isthe portion in which the studs 53 are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,isthe portion of the slots which controls the movement of the platen as itadvances against the bed and recedes directly therefrom. As the platenadvances against the bed, there is always a tendency, 011 account ofthere being no form upon that portion of the bed opposite the upper endthereof, for the platen to twist in a clock-wise direction as viewed inFig. 1, and this tendency will soon serveto work the platen out of truewith respect to the bed unless means are provided to counteract thistendency; and even then it becomes necessary to make an adjustment fromtime to time to keep the platen true. For this purpose I have provided aprojection 62 upon each of the rocker castings directly underneath thecam slots which slides upon a corresponding projection provided uponeach side of the frame directly underneath the respective studs 53.Furthermore I make the studs adjustable by mounting them eccentricallyin the frame, the preferable construction being illustrated in Fig. 2where the studs are provided with a shank 63 which is rotatable in theframe and which is rigidly held in any adjusted position by a screw 64,the head 61 of each stud being very slightly eccentric thereto and beingprovided with a friction roller. To turn either of these studs 53, theirheads are formed like that of a screw so as to receive a screw driver orother suitable tool whereby, when the screws 64 are loosened, the properadjustment may be made. As it is essential that the projections 62 shallbear hard against the respective portions of the frame above the same, Iprovide adjusting plates or some such means 65 held on to the frame byscrews 66 so that when the studs are adjusted, each purpose of having itmove plate may be adjusted correspondingly by oosening the screws 66 andinserting strips of pa er between the plates 65 and the frame. It wil beobvious that in this wav, as the platen is moving against the bed, theprojections 62, being held as they are by the studs 53 hard against theplates 65, will relieve the studs 53 and the cam plates 52 of the strainproduced by the tendency of the platen to twist, and will therefore notonly counteract this tendency but will prevent the said studs and camplates from possible fracture. Moreover, such a construction offers amost convenient means for adjusting the parts from time to time to takeup the wear produced between the rockers and their seats.

Another feature of the improvements concerns the adjuster bar 67, theparticular object of the improvements in this respect being to enablethe ready assembling and disassembling of these parts from the platenand a simplification of the construction thereof. In accordance with thelatter, the ends of the adjuster bar are slotted to receive projections68 upon reduced portions 69 of a shaft 70 extending from one end of theplaten bridge to the other. The reduced portions 69 are eccentric to theshaft 70 and are embraced by th ends of the connecting rods 71. The endsof the adjuster bar are made fast to the projections 68 by some suchmeans as screws 75. Such a construction is very simple and makes theassembling and disassembling of the parts very convenient. The adjusterbar is provided with a suitable latch 72 and latch lever 73. Sometimesit is more convenient for an o erator to move the lever with his righthan while another operator would prefer to use his left hand for thispurpose. So that it shall be possible for the lever to be adjusted in asimple way to accommodate either of such operators, I provide upon theadjuster bar two pivoting brackets 74, one on either side of the latchwhereby it is possible by the simplest kind of an operation to changethe latch lever 73 from one of the brackets 74 to the other.

It will be understood that the several features of my invention may beemployed alone or in combination with each other and that the specificembodiment thereof illustrated and described herein may be departedvention.

I claim as my invention: p

1. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a rocker, anda seat therefor, the rocker being made and finished as a separate pieceand formed with a square shoulder, and. the platen having acorresponding recess into which the shoulder is fitted and keyed.

2. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a rocker, aseat therefor, and a from without avoiding the spirit of the in-- Circam to guide the platen, the rocker and cam j being formed as a separateintegral piece with a square shoulder, and the platen having acorresponding recess into which the shoulder is fitted and keyed.

3. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a rocker ateach end thereof, and a seat for each rocker, the rockers being made andfinished as separate pieces and being formed each with a square shoulderand a flange, and the platen being formed at each end with a squarerecess into which the corresponding rocker piece is fitted and keyed.

4. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of separatepieces at each end thereof, each of which ieces is rovided with apositioning shou der and ange, a rocker and a cam for guiding the platenas it moves, a seat for each rocker on the frame of the press, and meansto secure the said separate pieces to the platen.

5. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a cam and studfor guiding the movements thereof, adjustable means for mounting thestud, and means for maintaining the stud rigidly in any adjustedposition.

6. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a cam and studfor guiding the movements thereof, means for mounting the studeccentrically, and means for maintaining the stud rigidly in anyadjusted position.

7. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a cam securedthereto, a stud eceentrically mounted on the press frame and cooperatingwith the cam, and means for maintaining the stud immovable in anyposition in which it has been adjusted.

8. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a cam securedthereto one portion of which determines the sliding of the l platenagainst the bed, an adjustable stud cooperating with the cam, andadjustable means to relieve the strain of the platen upon the stud andcam while the platen is slid against the bed. l

9. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a cam platethereon, a stud eccentrioally mounted in the frame and engaging the camplate, means upon the cam plate to engage a portion of the frameunderneath the stud as the platen advances against the bed, and means toadjust said portion'of the frame to compensate for any adjustment of thestud.

10. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a cam platethereon, a stud eccentrically mounted in the frame of the press andengaging in the cam plate, a projection on the cam plate, and anadjustable bearing plate upon the frame underneath the stud and adaptedto be engaged by the said projection as the plate is slid against thebed.

11. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of a platethereon having a cam slot, a stud eccentrically mounted in the frame andengaging in the said slot, the said slot being formed with a centralportion for guiding the platen as it is rocked and with end portions fordetermining the sliding of the platen, a projection upon the cam plate,and an adjustable bearing plate upon the frame underneath the stud andadapted to be engaged by the said projection as the platen is slidagainst the bed, whereby the stud not only serves with the cam to guidethe platen but also serves to hold the said projection hard against thesaid bearing plate during the sliding of the plate against the bed.

12. In a platen press, the combination with the platen, of an adjusterbar, a latch therefor, a latch lever, and means on each side of thelatch for pivoting the lever so that it may be set for right-handed orleft-handed manipulation.

This specification signed and witnessed this th day of April, A. 1).,1908.

JOHN THOMSON.

Signed in the presence of I G. A. RICHARD, I J. R. FRITH.

